This meta-analysis offers an overview of the literature on governance in South Sudan in the CSRF repository by exploring salient and timely questions for donor-funded programming. These questions focus on  the reason why local governance structures differ in South Sudan and the implications for aid actors; the relations between national, state, and local governance institutions and the implications for state building endeavours; the impacts of conflict and food security induced displacement on governance and the implications for international actors; and  citizens’ views and expectations about governance and connected processes such as the planned elections based in perception studies.